1. It’s been a while since I made a post, life is keeping me busy so I think moving forward I’ll write shorter posts but hopefully more frequently.
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3. A friend who works for a children’s charity recently came to visit for an evening, she is going through a difficult time at home as a single parent but I think she’s doing an amazing job. Parenting is always challenging, to do it alone always wins my respect.
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5. After a few drinks she launched into a rant about why children shouldn’t go online, especially for online gaming because of how the internet is full of predators stalking children. I accept that there are dangers online but I felt I had to challenge her over her assertions that the dangers are sufficient as to warrant stopping children from online social activities such as gaming. Why not educate children about computing and online activities? Why throw out all the benefits of the Internet and online social activities to remove all risk?
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7. The response I received was, and I think this quote is pretty accurate, “I work for a children’s charity and so I know more about these things more than you do. Trust me, it’s safer to just ban it.”
8. I asked for more information, what research or sources of information does she use because I’d be curious to read up and learn more myself but she couldn’t point me to any, the sum of the debate boiled down to “don’t question, just accept”.
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10. It drives my wife crazy how I frequently challenge assumptions and ask for evidence on any subject, I think it’s just the questioning and scientific side of who I am.
11. “House prices in the south will increase more than in the north!”. “Really? What’s that based on?”. A few minutes Start Paging and I have some market reports that paint a very different picture.
12. “Eating this fad diet will make you healthier!”. “Really? What’s that based on?”. A few minutes Start Paging and I have some research on the diet in question and find it isn’t quite as straightforward as the company selling the diet suggests.
13. My wife went to a paid workshop about online dangers for children and she came back terrified and ready to throw every computer in the house out. “You weren’t there! You didn’t hear the things the presenter was saying!”. When I asked what evidence was presented I was greeted with the usual response that there was no research presented, just statements of fact.
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15. That seems to be the state of the whole child welfare and protection industry. It is an industry and like any industry, over time it increasingly becomes driven by the interests of those operating within that industry. I’m sure many people enter the industry with good intentions but with good money, careers and businesses to be made there is clearly a strong motivation to protect the perceptions that keep the industry financed. Like young honest politicians setting out to build a better society, few remain unchanged once they learn the importance of protecting the political system and party interests. From the church to the armed forces, I’m yet to find an industry that doesn’t protect its member’s interests.
16. I generally don’t mind any industry protecting the interests of its membership, my own profession is no different with various unions, lobby groups and members producing a constant flow of PR to hold the interest and purse strings of society. However, I feel child protection is different from most other industries and should be more accountable. Unlike other industries, child welfare and protection should be first and foremost about the interests of children, people who exist outside of the industry itself. When publishing stories that paint an image of bands of paedophiles roaming the streets and online hunting for our children, care should be taken to think about the truthfulness of the story and the evidence to support it. With newspapers, TV shows, monitoring software, books, parental courses, gadgets and countless other products and services to sell, care should be taken to consider the truthfulness of the sales pitches and PR lines being used. When data and research challenges the status quo, it shouldn’t be attacked or hidden quickly to protect the industry but should be used to better inform and provide better safeguards for the interests of children. Researchers should be free to pursue and publish research without fear of repercussion form a protectionist industry, we should follow the evidence wherever it leads. Without doing this the danger is that the story becomes more important than the people the story was written for.
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18. While I accept that there are real dangers and real risks, I do worry that the real dangers are lost under a mountain of misinformation while being starved of a lot of valuable data and research. The result is increased risk for children and the interests of children not being served. In the past I’ve even been asked if I can provide key loggers and secret tracking devices by parents who are convinced that a total hidden surveillance program is the only way to keep their kids safe. I find this idea horrifying, spying on our children covertly because of some half-truth published to sell a product. No evidence, no challenges, just statements of fact to fearful parents to get them to part with their money regardless of the results to families and children. The industry cherry picks the bits of research that satisfies its agenda, the rest is buried or ignored and that means burying or ignoring at least 50% of the data and research out there. The money continues to flow, the industry grows while children and parents are no safer.
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20. When my friend refused to discuss the basis of her views on the grounds that she’s in the industry that knows, I knew I could have presented counter research but it wouldn’t have many any impact. Her career is dependent on the perception of danger whether its real or not. Ask a gun shop retailer whether owning a gun makes you safer, don’t be surprised when he tells you it will without a doubt. The evidence might not back him up but you’ll never convince him otherwise. It’s the same when it comes to child protection, we’re surrounded by paedophiles, paedophiles are child rapists, you need these products and services and need to give us money for our child protection programs.
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22. I genuinely don’t know whether the dangers of the Internet outweigh the benefits. I don’t know whether child sexuality should be repressed as it is today or whether relationships between adults and children are in the majority of cases negative or positive. I don’t know where the lines should be, whether hard and fast age restrictions work best or whether better ways exist to protect the interests of children. But then neither does anyone else and anyone who says they do isn’t someone I can fully respect. The data and openness of the industry to support independent and challenging research and ideas doesn’t exist and so at best we have opinion and half-truths, we certainly can’t draw hard conclusions. Surely there’s nothing more important than child welfare and so the industry should be able to look beyond their own interests and finally begin to do what’s morally and ethically right.